Aeris, We Miss You
by Ariena-the-Beautiful
Summary: A fanfic about Aeris's death and the time after it.
1. Aeris's Death

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7, duh!  
  
I looked up from where I was praying and smiled when I saw Cloud, Tifa and Red XIII standing across from me. They had come for me! That meant that Cloud really did care about me and it all wasn't a dream.  
  
Then Cloud's eyes became fearful and full of hate. He drew his sword and leaped at me, but I just looked at him with love in my eyes and he dropped his blade. "Cloud." I said softly.  
  
"Aeris," Cloud replied. But then fear, true fear filled his eyes. I titled my head but suddenly I felt a long, cold sword go through my stomach.  
  
My eyes went wide with pain, fear and understanding. It had to be this way. There was no other way for things to happen, I had to die. I turned around and looked Sepiroth right in his cold and triumphant eyes. "Thank you," I said simply.  
  
Then I felt my hair come undone and the materia my mother had left me, the Holy materia, bounced down into the crystal lake. I fell forward into Cloud's open eyes. I saw tears flowing from his eyes and I felt them flowing down my cheeks. He tried to cover my wound but the blood doused his hands.  
  
"I'm sorry Cloud," I whispered. I turned my head to look at Tifa and Red XIII. "I'm sorry to you too. Live well and win! I love you all." Then I coughed and blood wetted my face.  
  
I was drifting down a light tunnel but I didn't want to go. So I forced myself to stay, I drifted just above my body. I was cold, so cold and yet I felt nothing. I watched as Tifa wept beside my body and Red XIII howled his sorrow. Cloud was slumped over, his muscles unable to overcome his grief.  
  
Then he lifted me up and took my to the crystal lake. He let my body float out into the middle as he wept. I heard him say, "Aeris, you're half my heart. I love you." Then my body floated down and I was drawn back into that tunnel of light that I did not want to be in.  
  
"Good-bye my friends!" I cried as I was drawn away. "Good-bye!"  
  
Have mercy, it's not over yet! 


	2. Why Did She Go?

Tifa was in shock. Aeris had just died before her eyes and she had been helpless to stop it. "Aeris," Tifa sobbed. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to save you. You saved me once, and I couldn't save you in return."  
  
While Tifa sobbed RedXIII sat with his tail lowered along with his head. The girl who had helped them get through the tunnel so that he might see the truth of his father was now dead. The flame on his tail flickered down to a soft glow and he lifted his head and howled his sorrow.  
  
Tifa and RedXIII were in great pain, but not near so great as Cloud's. His heart felt as though half of it had been torn out and was now lying with Aeris at the bottom of the Crystal Lake. He could not even weep, so great was his sorrow and his guilt. "Why did she have to die?" Cloud asked no one in particular.  
  
RedXIII looked up and said, "I think she died for a very good reason. Maybe she knows why she died, but I for one do not."  
  
Tifa looked up and said, "I don't know why either. But I want to kill Sepiroth for what he has done! I want to make him pay!" Her eyes were burning.  
  
Cloud stood up. "Yes Tifa we will kill Sepiroth for what he has done. And then we will return to give Aeris the burial that she deserves!"  
  
Then all three of them heard a voice say, "Revenge is not everything, everyone has a purpose and mine was to die."  
  
Tifa jumped up, her eyes scanning everywhere. "Aeris?" she called. "Aeris!" When no more words came forth Tifa turned to Cloud and RedXIII. "She's totally right! We need to understand that."  
  
RedXIII jumped up and said, "That is still no reason to not kill Sepiroth, we must punish him for what he has done! He's killed more people then only Aeris, and left many more without homes. He is a horrible person who must pay. And we're the only ones who can make him do so!"  
  
"You're forgetting something," Cloud said from his seat by the lake. Tifa and Red turned to face him. "The meteor, we're all forgetting about the meteor. It's going to strike Earth and kill us all. Nothing can save us now, we need the Holy Materia. Aeris is gone, how could she leave us like this? She abandoned us."  
  
Tifa stepped up to him. "Don't you understand?" she demanded. "What she was doing while she was here? Did you see what was in her hair, what fell out? She's always carried a useless Materia around in her braid that her mother gave her. Only that Materia was green, like her eyes. When it fell it was glowing bright white. And Aeris had been praying when we arrived. That was the Holy Materia. She was praying to save our world. She died to do that. She did not abandon us for a bad reason, she abandoned us to save our world."  
  
Red nodded and looked at Cloud. "Tifa is right you know Cloud, Aeris did do all of that."  
  
Cloud stood up and brushed his unruly hair out of his eyes. "Whatever you guys say doesn't matter to me now. Aeris is dead, I miss her already. I'm going to kill Sepiroth and no one, not even Barrett or Vincent, can stop me."  
  
Tifa sighed as Cloud walked away, his hands shoved into his pockets. "RedXIII, we have to find the others and tell them what has happened."  
  
Red nodded. "Then we'll go from there."  
  
That's the second part, more to come! 


End file.
